Comments on: Board gaming in Los Angeles

Question: Board gaming in Los Angeles

hifiparasol — Thu, 10 May 2007 18:14:27 -0800

Anyone know of any board-game-friendly coffee houses in the Hollywood/West LA/Glendale/Burbank area?

I'm looking for a place where 4-5 friends can get together for a fun night of board games. My place is decent for gaming, but too small to accomodate more than four people comfortably, and anyway it's a pain in the ass to clean up before company comes over. Another set of friends has a bigger apartment, but lousy furniture.

Ideally I'd like to find a place where I can feel comfortable bringing my own games (the prospect of losing a Carcassonne tile in a public place scares me a bit, but life is about risk, right?) but a place that lends out their own games to customers would also be acceptable (in my experience, places like these rarely have wonderful selections, but Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit are still great games).

My track record in searching has not been great lately for some reason, so apologies if this has been covered.

By: numinous

numinous — Thu, 10 May 2007 19:13:28 -0800

There is a place called Kaldi Coffe & Tea in Atwater Village. They own another location in South Pasadena (with which I am more familiar - here you can often find patrons and baristas alike poured over games of chess, checkers, or backgammon). Their location in South Pas, which is not too far from Glendale, boasts a collection of comfortable couches, arm chairs, and mismatched furnishings, lending it a quaintness that makes for a good board-gaming environment. They often have boardgames on hand; just ask the baristas.

By: roger ackroyd

roger ackroyd — Thu, 10 May 2007 20:01:01 -0800

How about Insomnia, on Melrose? It's not my favorite place in the world, but if they can put up with all those screenwriters and their laptops, they shouldn't have too big of a problem with you bringing your games.

By: brujita

brujita — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:08:13 -0800

Insomnia's on Beverly, west of the New Beverly Theater on the south side of the street. Too bad Lulu's Alibi/Beehive are closed....

By: np312

np312 — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:33:55 -0800

In Venice there's always the Novel Cafe, which is open til 1am on weekends, and it's easy to get a table there... Just don't be too loud when you scream "Yahtzee!" because people do go there to write.

By: roger ackroyd

roger ackroyd — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:36:18 -0800

*smacks self*

brujita's right. Beverly. Not Melrose.

By: Space Kitty

Space Kitty — Fri, 11 May 2007 12:04:09 -0800

I rather like The Bourgeis Pig for this sort of thing.